Comics

2000ad week #2: “I’m going in, cover me!”

2csewbn-topaz-text-shapes-2xWhat? I never got that issue! Probably because it never existed, it’s the creation of Ross over at the Super-Team Family blogspot. He creates a series of ‘what if?’-style covers to comic team-ups that never existed – “but should have!” Here’s his interpretation of Old Stoney Face vs Bruce Banner‘s alter ego, using an old Brian Bolland image for Dredd by the look of things.

Speaking of covers this month sees the release of ‘The Art of Judge Dredd‘, (not to be confused with The Art of ‘Judge Dredd’ The Movie book that collects the concept art for the Stallone film of old). The new book collects comic covers old and new featuring the lawman and comes in two editions, one only sold through the 2000ad online shop with an alternate (nicer) cover. Besides the images there will be comments from creators and celebrities and ‘Inside Story’ info boxes giving the background to some of Dredd’s most iconic covers.


But if we’re talking 2000ad covers then there’s only one site on the web to go to: Pete Wells‘ incredible 20000ad Covers Uncovered blog. Week after week he posts images from the artists who create the covers including layouts, alternate versions, work in progress and artists’ comments – a unique resource.

Posted in 2000ad, Comics. | 2 Comments |

2000ad week #1: Prog 174 cover production art

It’s a pretty big week for the UK comic 2000ad – this Friday the film Dredd 3D officially hits cinemas in the UK, based on the anthology’s lead character, Judge Dredd. The day after that the 35 year old publication hits no. 1800 with a whole host of new stories beginning for readers who want to jump on board. Not only that but the sister mag, the Judge Dredd-related Megazine bumps up its page size and includes concept images from the film as well as an exclusive prequel comic to the movie drawn by none other than… regular readers of this blog will know the answer… Henry Flint. :)

Being that I’ve read the comic since I was 8 years old and have stuck with it every week, through the printers strikes, the mergers, the format changes and the lean years when a lot of the original creators went to the States to seek fame and fortune (and better deals), this is a very big deal. I’ll be celebrating this nicely timed piece of synchronicity this week with a series of related posts leading up to the big weekend of Thrill Power.

First up I’m digging in the archives for some vintage artwork from the first golden period of the comic. Some of you may remember me posting the original artwork for Kevin O’Neill‘s ‘Tube Warrior’ last year, which is one of my most prized pieces of original comic art. That was the black and white line art but it appeared on the comic’s cover in full colour.

Enter Steve Cook, from the already legendary Secret Oranges blogspot, which amazingly celebrates it’s 1000th post this week. His collection of original production art is vast and we were going through a pile of images at his studio when the colour version of the same piece appeared at the top of the pile. Knowing that I had the original, and probably seeing me trying not to completely freak out in front of him, he graciously presented it to me for my birthday, for which I am eternally grateful. Note the header for the ‘Galactic Olympics’ booklet which was a fictitious games with things like ‘laser slalom’ as I remember.

2000ad Prog 174 cover production art, 1980.

Illustration: Kevin O’Neill – ‘Tube Warrior’ Colours: Tom Frame

(300 x 230 mm, black line art acetate overlay, paint on paper).

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Posted in Art, Comics, Originals. | 1 Comment |

Dredd 3D “Legendary” – US TV Spot

US TV spot for Dredd 3D, titled ‘Legendary‘. Not long to wait now but in case you’ve not been paying attention: Filmed in 3D, the film returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra‘s revered comic strip. In this adaptation, Judge Dredd teams up with a rookie (Cassandra Anderson) who possesses psychic abilities. Together they fight to wrest control of Mega City One’s dystopic streets from a brutal prostitute-turned-drug kingpin named Ma-Ma.
Starring Karl Urban (Star Trek) and Olivia Thirlby (Juno) and Lena Headley (Game of Thrones)
Written by 28 Days Later‘s Alex Garland
Released by Lionsgate Films in the UK on Sept 7th and the US on Sept 21st
More info here

Also there will be a prequel comic available next week (physical or online, I’m not sure yet) with artwork by none other than Henry Flint, which makes me very happy as he will be getting even more exposure.

Posted in Comics, Film. | 2 Comments |

Shakara The Destroyer graphic novel

As readers may know, I’m a fan of Henry Flint‘s art, kind of obvious since I got him to provide visuals for all my recent releases. One of his finest comic book creations – along with writer Robbie Morrison – is the alien Shakara, a lone assassin, seeking revenge for the destruction of his race. This ran for five series’ in the UK comic anthology 2000ad and finished last year with an epic finale that I won’t spoil here.

This final series is now collected (along with the 4th series) in a graphic novel priced £14.99 – or even cheaper if you get it from Forbidden Planet! The first 3 chapters are also available at the bargain price of £12.99 here. For anyone who enjoyed Kevin O’Neill‘s Nemesis the Warlock or Simon Bisley‘s take on the ABC Warriors books, this is on par with those classics – stunning visuals and plot set pieces to blow your mind.

I’ve also been reminded that Factory Road still have a small quantity of the 2 colour screen printed tea towels that they made for our recent exhibition, sporting Henry’s line drawing for my album cover. Check them out on their shop.

Posted in Comics, DJ Food. | No Comments |

Moebius: ‘Quatre-vingt huit’ book

I stumbled upon this today whilst surfing the net for something else. It’s a book of ‘personal work’ by Moebius, forms and shapes that have no purpose other than for him to express himself in a non-work context. Similar to the method Henry Flint used in his ‘Broadcast’ book – of letting his mind go and just drawing to see what came out – these were collected into a book named ‘Quatre-vingt huit’ (’88) in 1990.

Not all the images are this finished but these are some of my favourites, that he could produce work like this in his spare time is incredible. Apparently it’s now quite a rare book but a quick search will net you a digital copy, hopefully someone will reprint it now that he’s gone.

Posted in Art, Books, Comics. | 1 Comment |

Jim Mahfood

Always enjoy Jim Mahfood‘s work, very much looking forward to his take on Tank Girl this summer. He also has a new book out collecting his online adventures as a working artist, Los Angeles Ink Stains. He has a print out to go with it too as well as toys, T-shirts and more. Go here

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Nick Fury Agnt of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Steranko

I always loved this image but never knew this version or its origin. Last night I saw it whilst looking for something else and immediately recognised it from my childhood, albeit in another form. In the UK this appeared on the cover of the first issue of Future Tense, all original context stripped from it and a re-colouring job that left much to be desired.

Future Tense was a UK comic anthology of reprints from old Marvel series’ trying to capitalise on the sci-fi craze started by Star Wars and maintained by 2000ad. Seeing the original colours here gives the image a whole new lease of life but reminded me of all the great strips that were in the comic: Micronauts (with Michael Golden‘s amazing artwork), ROM The Spaceknight, Warlock. Starlord, Paladin and more. There’s a couple of nice pieces about it with a more covers over at Slow Robot‘s blog, which is a great resource for old sci-fi ephemera from the 70’s and 80’s. Now, what Nick Fury was doing on the cover of issue 1 is anyone’s guess, as he wasn’t featured in the comic.

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Posted in Comics. | 1 Comment |

Dredd trailer

[youtube width=”640″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PifvRiHVSCY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] Judge for yourself and other terrible puns…

Posted in Comics, Film. | 2 Comments |

Judge for yourself

Looks promising, on set photos released so far have been a mixed bag, an R rating and a thumbs up from creator John Wagner are a good start but a trailer will be more telling. Up against the 1996 Stallone travesty the odds are in its favour but the proof will be in the pudding.

Posted in Comics, Film. | No Comments |

Moebius mural, Shoreditch, London

An amazing, but very hard to photograph, mural dedicated to Moebius that wraps round three sides of a building in Shoreditch, London. Featuring many scenes and images he created in his lifetime and also a little MCA dedication too, I tried my best to join the images together fluidly but had to take some of these standing in the middle of the road. UPDATE: The mural was painted by JimVision / Probs over 9 days, check some much better photos over at the End of the Line blog.

 

Posted in Art, Comics. | 1 Comment |